Tsuyukami
Tsuyukami was a youkai who many people in the past considered the God of Dew. Appearance Tsuyukami's size depends very much on his worshipers. The more there are, the larger in size he would be, with human size being the maximum. But with only the single support of one human, Hana, he is now palm-sized. He wears traditional Japanese clothing with a red cap. He wears a white mask that has a mustache upon it. Personality He always speaks in the soft tone and likes to watch the weather. He finds amusement in many things, and shows good humor (i.e. laughing at Madara's maneki neko form.). But he does get embarrassed and angry when people make fun of/laugh at him. Shown when Natsume and Madara laughed at his (bad) drawing of Susugi. In any case, Tsuyukami is mostly a calm youkai. He accepts reality quite easily making it easier for him to depart from the physical world without regret. He is shown to be devoted to those he comes to love and care for. History He was filled with spirit energy for every person who gave prayer to him. In the past, there were many of these worshipers, but over the years, less and less people prayed to him. Reiko, after their duel, told him that his fame would not last forever and naturally, she was right. The last person who worshiped him until their dying breath was Hana. Tsuyukami had watched her grow to old age and at some point came to love her. Plot Sensing Hana's time in the physical world is almost over, he seeks out Natsume to return his name. This is so that he can join Hana once she has passed. Before greeting Natsume, he had gotten onto the dinner table without Natsume's knowledge and takes a bite out of his dinner. When Natsume notices the small bite, Tsuyukami claims it was delicious and causes Natsume to spurt out his soup in surprise. In the privacy of Natsume's room, Tsuyukami asks for his name back. Before Natsume chants to find his name, Madara recognizes who Tsuyukami is, calling him the Dew God, but notes he has shrunk to a much smaller size. Tsuyukami also recognizes Madara by his voice and laughs at his ridiculous appearance and name. Tsuyukami then suffers intense pain as Natsume tries to separate Tsuyukami's name and another youkai's name from each other. When Natsume bluntly says "please give up it." Tsuyukami is sent into a panic, exclaims it to be "cruel" and desperately pleas for Natsume to figure something out. Natsume is clearly unwilling to help (at the moment) and so he returns back to his shrine. The next day, before Natsume comes to see him at his shrine, he is once again visited by Hana and gifted a peach. Once Natsume arrives he notices that he is a bit unhinged. When Madara explains to him that Natsume thinks he truly is a god and that he might curse him for being rude yesterday, Tsuyukami laughs and eases Natsume's concern. He then proceeds to explain how he was deemed the Dew God. He was once a wondering youkai and eventually took residence in this particular shrine. During this time, the people were plagued by drought and desperation led to them praying for rain at this little shrine. Coincidentally, it rained the next day and thus, they began praying at this shrine. This in turn would account for Tsuyukami's former human size. But eventually, the people's faith dwindled until only one person was left - Hana, the elderly lady Natsme met on his way here. Tsuyukami is told by Natsume he plans to return his name and the other youkai at the same time. Natsume and Madara, however don't know what he looks like but Tsuyukami does. He returns with them to their house and draws a picture of the youkai, Susugi. The reason he knows him is because he was so upset by his loss to Reiko he went to Susugi to gloat. Tsuyukami explains Susugi lives in Sannozuka and is a God of Shadows. He uses the shadows to travel about. Tsuyukami is then laughed at for his drawing of Susugi by Natsume and Madara which angers and embarrasses him. The three of them search for Susugi but with no luck. Their search stops for the day and Tsuyukami is once again being worshiped by Hana. Hana recalls the day she had seen him to Natsume. She was a teenager at the time and Tsuyukami, unaware that Hana saw him that day, commented on the beautiful weather. The following day, Tsuyukami succeeds in locating Susugi but when he calls his name, Susugi ran away. Tsuyukami quickly alerts Natsume and they chase Susugi down before he runs even further away. Before leaving, Natsume is instructed to carry a mirror and use it to reflect light onto Susugi to temporarily blind him. In the forest, Susugi finally appears before them. Disappearing quickly using the forest's large amount of tree shade. Tsuyukami is told by Natsume that his drawing does not even look like Susugi, Tsuyukami gets offended claiming that is it the spitting image of Susugi. Apparently, only the character on the drawing is correct. Susugi continues to ambush them but with Madara's help, Natsume is able to return their names. Natsume relives both of their memories. And it is revealed that Tsuyukami was advised by Reiko, after their duel, to find settlement elsewhere as people's faith is very fickle and Tsuyukami will eventually disappear because of it should he remain here. Tsuyukami thanks Reiko for her concern while fondly looking at the peach given to him by Hana. The youkai explains to Reiko that since he experienced the feeling of being loved, it is difficult to forget and leave the place where he experienced it. By the end the day, Tsuyukami had shrunk even smaller. And when Natsume comes by, he takes notice and Tsuyukami begins to glow. A signal that Hana had just passed. When Natsume asks him why he is glowing, Tsuyukami explains that Hana had been ill for some time and the illness had now taken her. Tsuyukami will soon join her. When Natsume's realizes Tsuyukami is disappearing, Natsume frankly tells him he'll worship him. But Tsuyukami eases his worries, telling him that because Natsume is a friend, he cannot force him to worship him. He also says that he is happy because he can finally be with Hana. Before disappearing completely, he is told Hana had heard him once. He thanks Natsume for all he had done for him and lovingly tells him that humans have and always will be interesting. He is then seen with Hana, he recounts the beautiful weather just like back then and this time Hana doesn't hesitate to respond. Relationships Mrs. Hana Tsuyukami had watched Hana grow from a young girl to an elderly woman. And had witnessed most of her life events. Eventually, with time, he had grown to truly love her and his only wish was to be with her. He loved her so much that when he realized her time was almost up, that he sought out Natsume to return his name. To regain his freedom and finally be with her after her passing. Reiko Natsume Tsuyukami had no ill intent towards Reiko but was pretty upset when he lost to her. In any case, he didn't disregard her concern for him and listened when she expressed such concerns. Nonetheless, though Tsuyukami understands, he calmly tells Reiko that he doesn't want to settle elsewhere because of the love he experienced at his shrine. Takashi Natsume Tsuyukami had from the beginning treated Natsume with respect (uncommon amongst youkai). Although he remarked Natsume to be cruel (the latter refused to return his name because the paper was fused to another) he was understanding and didn't force him to find a solution. Though he was very happy and appreciative when Natsume agreed to help him. Throughout the days he had spent with Natsume, he came to see him as a friend. As such, when he started to disappear he tells Natsume that he couldn't bare seeing his friend worship him for his sake. Madara He appears to be acquainted with Madara. Though he didn't initially recognized him in his maneki neko form until Madara spoke. He took great amusement in Madara's new form which annoyed the "cat." Trivia *In the manga, the peach was an orangeChapter 02 . References }} Category:Characters Category:Male Category:Youkai Category:Season 1